Longford Slashers through to meet Amsterdam in the Special Leinster Junior Hurling Final

Longford Slashers booked a place in the Special Leinster Club Junior Hurling Championship Final with a two-point win over Wicklow Intermediate champions Aughrim at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park on Saturday with Robbie Stakelum’s side showing fierce resilience to emerge victorious.  

Longford Slashers . . . 1-15   Aughrim (Wicklow) . . . 1-13 

The Longford senior Champions began the contest in whirlwind fashion building up a 1-3 to no-score lead after the opening ten minutes.

Slashers raised the green flag in just the second minute as David Buckley’s pin-point pass found Reuben Murray and his clever low pass picked out Darragh Caslin, and Caslin rifled the sliotar to the roof of the Aughrim net from thirty yards out. Murray then converted two frees with an excellent point from play from Harry Mulvihill splitting those two Murray frees.

Ian Clancy opened the visitors’ scoring a minute later with a free, and he added his second free of the contest in between two Murray frees, as the home side held a six-point cushion with fifteen minutes on the clock.

Slashers were by far the better side in the opening twenty minutes of the match but they conceded a soft goal on seventeen minutes to let the Garden County side back into the contest.

There was a goalmouth scramble and Slashers’ defenders had at least two opportunities to clear the danger but did not clear their lines properly and eventually a Lorcan Toomey shot from near the edge of the small square took a deflection of a Slashers hurl and just crept inside the far post for a fortuitous goal.

Murray fired over two successive frees within a minute of each other and when David Buckley slotted over an excellent long-range point on twenty-two minutes, the Longford side had established a six-point advantage for the second time in the game.

Aughrim suddenly came alive and long diagonal balls into their corner forwards posed numerous problems for the home side in the closing eight minutes of the first half and this enabled them to reel off three unanswered points to reduce the half-time deficit to just three points as two, Clancy frees and a Conor Lambert close range point from the right left them trailing by 1-8 to 1-5 at the break. 

Both sides had goal chances in the closing stages of the first-half with Aughrim firing a shot into the side netting and a low shot from Sean Tiernan of Slashers from a narrow angle on the right producing a magnificent save from Aughrim keeper David Whitty.

Before the second half started, there was drama as some overheated interactions coming down the tunnel spilled onto the pitch and after a melee, referee Bernard Heaney showed straight red cards to David Buckley of Longford Slashers, and also to Aughrim duo Dean Barnes and substitute Brian Hanlon.

Ten minutes into the second-half, Slashers retained their three-point lead. Reuben Murray registered three for Slashers while Clancy with another free, Toomey and Adam Lifely also added to the Aughrim total.

Reuben Murray then scored his first point from play a few minutes later when he brilliantly spun away from his marker and fired over an exquisite point from forty-yards out on the left to give Slashers a four-point lead.

A brilliant long range free converted by Slashers keeper Adam Murray put the home side ahead by 1-13 to 1-8 on fifty-one minutes to put some breathing space between the teams.

It looked as if Aughrim had run out of steam but they were handed a lifeline on fifty-three minutes when a long ball into the danger area resulted in a penalty award, but Clancy fired his effort over the bar for just a point.

Aughrim reeled off the next three points through Lifely, and two long-range frees from Clancy to reduce the deficit to just a single point, with Slashers nervously holding on by 1-13 to 1-12 as added time approached.

Another superb pointed free from Slashers keeper Adam Murray eased the pressure only for Clancy to slot over another free for Aughrim to make it a one-point game again.

However, when Sean Tiernan was brought down as he raced in on goal deep into stoppage time, up stepped Reuben Murray to slot over the game’s last score from a free to give Slashers a two-point victory.

Aughrim had a third player red-carded after the final whistle when Cillian McDonald received his marching orders.

Slashers will now face the Europe champions Amsterdam in the final on Saturday November 22 after the team from the Netherlands defeated Rathmoylan (Meath) in dramatic fashion in the other semi-final as the exiles came from behind late on to win by 1-13 to 1-11.

LONGFORD SLASHERS: Adam Murray (0-2, 2f), John Murray, Stephen Oates, Kealan Cox, Ronan Kelly, Daire Regan, Diarmuid Caslin, Harry Mulvihill (0-1), Sean Tiernan, Matthew Hawes, Reuben Murray (0-11, 10f), Darragh Caslin (1-0), Stephen Murray, David Buckley, (0-1), Niall Hawes.

Subs:- Johnny Casey for Stephen Murray (half-time), Jack Horgan Swaris for Matthew Hawes (45 minutes), Finn Neary for Kelly (53 minutes).

AUGHRIM: David Whitty, Dean Barnes, Robert Lambert, Philip Toomey, Joseph McGuckian, Mark Clancy, Mark Shannon, Cillian McDonald, Dylan Byrne, Lorcan Toomey (1-1), Conor Lambert (0-1), Ian Clancy (0-9, 8 f’s, 0-01 penalty), Evan Byrne, Adam Lifely (0-2), Alex Kavanagh.

Subs:- Cormac Sheridan for Evan Byrne (45 minutes), Dara O’Shea for Shannon (55 minutes).

Referee: Bernard Heaney (Westmeath).